Synod on the Word of God Begins

Tomorrow, from Catholic Online:

In the Holy See Press Office this morning Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, gave a briefing on the forthcoming Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The Synod, which has as its theme “The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church”, is due to begin on Sunday with a Mass presided by the Pope in the basilica of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls. 

“This will be the first time a Synod of Bishops has been opened in a basilica other than St. Peter’s”, said the archbishop. “The reason for this is apparent: the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly is being held during the Pauline Year”. The assembly is due to come to an end on 26 October with a ceremony in the Vatican Basilica. 

Attending this Twelfth Assembly will be 253 Synod Fathers representing 113 episcopal conferences, 13 “sui iuris” Eastern Catholic Churches, 25 dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the Union of Superiors General. Also present will be 41 experts from 21 countries, and 37 auditors from 26 countries. The experts include six women and the auditors 19, one more than the men. 

The secretary general of the Synod of Bishops went on to indicate that the assembly will also be attended by a number of fraternal delegates from ten Churches and ecclesial communities. Representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will be present alongside others from the Patriarchates of Moscow, of Serbia and of Romania, from the Orthodox Church of Greece and the Armenian Apostolic Church, as well as from the Anglican Communion, the World Lutheran Federation, the Church of the Disciples of Christ and the World Council of Churches. 

Also participating in the work of the Synod will be three special guests of the Holy Father. One is Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen of Haifa, Israel, who on 6 October will address the assembly on how the Jewish people read and interpret Sacred Scripture. “This will be the first time that a rabbi and a non-Christian has addressed the Synod Fathers”, said Archbishop Eterovic. The other special guests are Rev. A. Miller Milloy, secretary general of the United Bible Societies, and Frere Alois, prior of the Taize Community. 

An Empty Tomb

Clothing left behind, but the body of John Henry Newman is gone, from the Brimingham Archdiocese (England):

 

4.10.08 NO PHYSICAL REMAINS OF CARDINAL NEWMAN FOUND IN HIS GRAVE AT REDNAL

 

 

Statement by Peter Jennings, Press Secretary to the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory and for the Cause of the Beatification and Canonisation of  Cardinal Newman, Saturday 4 October 2008:

 (The brass inscription plate on the wooden coffin in which Cardinal Newman was buried, recovered from his grave at Rednal on 2 October 2008. Picture by Peter Jennings. This picture is the copyright of the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory.)

‘Eminent [issimus] et Reverend [issimus] Joannes Henricus Newman Cardinalis Diaconus S Georgii in Velabro Obiit Die XI August. MDCCCXC RIP’

 “The grave of the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801 – 1890) was excavated with the utmost care on Thursday 2 October 2008, Feast of the Guardian Angels. 

 “Cardinal Newman died on Monday 11 August 1890 and was buried in the small secluded cemetery at the Oratory House, Rednal, near Birmingham on Tuesday 19 August 1890. He was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II on 22 January 1991.

 “During the excavation the brass inscription plate which had been on the wooden coffin in which Cardinal Newman had rested was recovered from his grave.  It reads:

 

What Used to Be…

In the not to distant past, we’d be talking about yet another game of the century. But that was the 20th century and this is the 21st.

From the Palm Beach Post:

* A matchup that regularly caused the press boxes at the
Orange Bowl and Doak Campbell Stadium to overflow with reporters from
across the country has drawn no national media requests, according to a
UM spokesman.
* Despite a dearth of high-profile games this weekend, ESPN’s College GameDay chose to ignore Miami-FSU and televise on Saturday morning from … drumroll, please … Vanderbilt.
* Tickets that once were harder to come by than cheap
gasoline remain available for Saturday’s game at Dolphin Stadium. One
UM official said between 65,000 and 70,000 fans are expected in a
stadium with a capacity of 74,916. Since 1991, the UM-FSU game has
drawn a crowd of fewer than 70,000 only once.
Bottom line? A series that in 1991 produced the “Game of the
Century” – a 17-16 Miami victory in the original “Wide Right” game -
has become largely irrelevant on the college football landscape.
The fact is, with Georgia Tech (3-1) and Duke (3-1) battling in
Atlanta, UM-FSU may not even be the ACC’s most important game Saturday.
“The game has lost its luster, its national prestige,” ESPN analyst
Lee Corso said. “It doesn’t mean that much anymore. It used to be the
game of the week, and everybody in America would be looking at it. We
would be there and everyone would be going crazy. Times change.”
For confirmation, just look at the polls.
For the second consecutive season, both the Hurricanes (2-2) and
Seminoles (3-1) are unranked during game week. From 1983 to 2005,
either one or both teams entered their annual showdown ranked in the
top 10. Before 2007, the last time UM and FSU met while both were
unranked was 1977.